Quantitative Perspectives on the Long-Term Toxicity of Methylmercury and Similar Poisons

Abstract

A number of toxic contaminants in our environment act on the central nervous system. Metals such as mercury, lead, and manganese have been recognized for many years as central nervous system poisons. Their presence in our environment may pose hazards which are difficult to specify because the changes in function produced by relatively low, but chronic, levels may unfold only gradually and subtly in ways that current methods of behavioral assessment are unprepared to evaluate. The actions of methylmercury are a cogent example.

Keywords

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Preparation of this chapter was supported in part by USPHS grants MH-11752 from the National Institute of Mental Health, NS-08048 from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, GI-300978 from the RANN program of the National Science Foundation, and in part by a contract between the University of Rochester and the Atomic Energy Commission and is report UR-49-1424.